Upcycling discards into new treasures.

Here is a simple one for today. Unfortunately, simple as it was, I still couldn’t manage to finish this one today. I have a good reason though! Two of my turtles, Tina and Charlie, were living in a plastic tank in my daughter’s bedroom. The tank sprung a leak so we bought them a new stock tank. I spent the evening cleaning the new tank and transfering the turts and their stuff to their new home.

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Tina and Charlie in their new tank.

After some dinner and Glee, I got started on this pillow. The pillow was this ’80s country style pillow with a ruffle. The new fabric that I chose for this was a really cool Banana Republic cotton duvet cover in khaki green. The stripe on top was taken from a cotton dress. I turned down the edges of the dress fabric and sewed this on to the khaki fabric. I then turned the fabrics over and sewed the pillow 3/4 around. I turned it right side out and stuffed the pillow filler in.

Duvet cover.

Since I don’t want this final seam to show, I am hand sewing an “invisible” stitch. It takes a while and its already 10:30pm. The rest of this is going to have to wait!﻿﻿﻿﻿

A few weeks ago when I was shopping for my Renaissance Faire costume I found this cute white wrap around blouse. I was going to try it on but it got buried under all of the stuff in my cart! I completely forgot about it. I didn’t realize until I got home with my treasures that this blouse was one of them. Had I tried it on at the Salvation Army I would have left it there. It is a regular large and I am a petite large (on top). When the wrap is tied, it kind of pulls funny around the girls. But, it was only about $1.50 so it wasn’t worth trying to take it back. Besides, who returns stuff to a charity?? I decided that I could remove the sleeves and it will be easy to layer under cardis for the winter.

Cute like this but doesn’t fit right.

I used the seam ripper to remove the sleeves. I then turned the hem down twice so it wouldn’t fray and sewed. That was all!

I think this is my most sophisticated project yet. And not too difficult!

I have always been a bit envious of my sister’s wardrobe. She always has classy looking dresses in her closet. When I found this red polka dot dress at the Salvation Army, a sophisticated dress wasn’t what I saw. I was actually going to cut off the top and make a skirt. But, I tried it on and began to play with it. The major problem with the dress (besides the length) was that it didn’t fit right on top. This dress is a size 14W. I am a 14P from the waist up. From the waist down, I am average to long. Strange. But, that is what I have to work with.

Anyway, here is the dress before.

To make the dress fit better, all I had to do was take about an inch and a half from the shoulders. I just restitched the tops of the shoulders, that was all. It fit much better! I then took several inches from the length, bringing it from near ankle length to knee length. I really could have been done at this point but I decided a sash would look cool. I used what I cut from the length for the sash. I used a purse stitch to scrunch the sash and sewed it onto the dress, at the empire waist.

I attached the sash to the sides of the dress and sewed it onto the front just from the top of the sash, so as to not disturb the scrunch.

I didn’t want to show the attached sash on either side of the zipper so I left one side a little long. After a trip to the store, I will add some small snaps to the longer side so I can snap it over the zipper.

Today, all I can say is “Oops!!”. You have seen that I love to change dresses into skirts or cut and redo skirt lengths to make something new and current. One piece that I love is my leopard nightgown into skirt.I wore this skirt to work and loved it. It was so comfy and I thought it looked cool. But, when I washed it, I noticed that the elastic twisted inside. NOT comfy! I need to fix this before I wear it again.

This next skirt is going to be a little more difficult to rework. At least, for me it will be. This is a peach colored skirt that I shortened. I didn’t cut straight and the back of the shirt is a little shorter in the middle, making a slight A shape in the back. I already have a problem with pregnant butt under my skirts, the shorter hem in back is not good! The problem for me is, I will need to go a bit shorter to get it right. I am not sure yet if this new length will be suitable for work….

If you remember the original post, you might remember the stains on the skirt. I am happy to say, they came out!!

As you already know, my family and I went to the Northern California Renaissance Faire this past weekend. We ate good food, rode a giant swing, took in a parrot show, saw the Queen’s Parade and had a great time.

My boyfriend, Chris, already has a costume that he purchased several years ago. This made it easy for me because I had instant inspiration for my son’s costume!

For my son, Glenn, we bought a white turtleneck, black elastic waist pants and a poly-suede men’s casual shirt from the Salvation Army.

I cut the neck plus a little bit extra from the turtle neck shirt. I had some leather cord in my craft supplies which I sewed around the new neck of the shirt. Then, I cut the collar from the poly-suede shirt and used my seam ripper to remove the sleeves and the front pockets to make a vest. The pants needed no work at all. Except for the time it took to hand sew the leather to the white shirt, this was super easy to make and I love the results!

The Queen’s Parade

The Queen

Okay, so I am done with RenFaire posts (until next year!). We had a blast and I highly recommend summoning your creative side and making costumes with second hand clothing and/or craft materials you have. It was inexpensive and easy!

It’s Sunday morning and I hope everyone is having a good weekend. As for me, I went out Friday night, saw a couple of up and coming country singers, Craig Campbell and Frankie Ballard. If your are into country (and even if you’re not), you should definitely check these guys out.

Craig Campbell

Frankie Ballard

I got home at about 2:15am and even though I got up at 10:00am, I just don’t recover the way I did when I was in my 20’s. So, I ended up blowing off the housework in favor of some easy crafts.

I found this animal print nightgown at the Salvation Army. It is a nice, stretchy cotton blend so if I change this up, it is good for daytime.

I cut this nightgown in the middle and using my green paisly skirt as a template, I took in the sides to create a more A shaped skirt. I sewed the sides together and turned over the waist to hem and add elastic. The bottom was already hemmed so that eliminated a whole step! The skirt is cute and sexy without being overpowering. It will go well with a black, white or brown top. I also have a brown cardi that will look great with this on a chilly morning.

I purposely left the back longer to eliminate the pregnant butt effect. ‘Cuz I do have a big bootie…

If you want to make your own without stalking the thrift stores, you could try these from Fabric.com:

Kwick Sew Gathered Skirt Pattern

Minky Jaguar Tan/Brown

I have this great antique door that my friend gave me. I had planned to make a table from it but changed my mind because of the detailing. I didn’t want to cover it with a tablecloth! I ended up leaning this against my wall (anchored with picture wire and a molly bolt in the wall). I think I will add some molding to hold keys, etc, and a mirror. Any other ideas, anyone?